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About Us

The Kruglyak Lab conducts experiments in model organisms, as well as computational analyses, aimed at understanding how changes at the level of DNA are shaped by molecular and evolutionary forces, and how these changes lead to all the observable differences among individuals within a species.

June 2017: We are pleased that Longhua Guo, Ph.D., will be joining our laboratory this summer. His research will focus on quantitative genetic analysis in the sexual planarian, Schmidtea mediterranea, a free living freshwater flatworm.

May 2017: Chair Dr. Leonid Kruglyak and postdoctoral fellow Alejandro Burga were authors on a publication in Science investigating the genetic mechanisms behind the evolution of the flightless Galapagos cormorant bird and how it relates to similar genetic mutations in humans suffering from bone-development disorders. Their research has been featured in this UCLA Newsroom article here "How the Galapagos Cormorant Lost its Ability to Fly" and this video interview.

May 2017: Science News - Selfish genes hide for decades in plain sight of worm geneticists. By poisoning offspring and providing the antidote, the genes spread spookily fast through the population. Read more here.

May 2017: UCLA Newsroom - Study of worms reveals ‘selfish genes’ that encode a toxin – and its antidote. Read more here.

April 2017: CRISPR tweak speeds up gene-editing process. Interesting Engineering (Scientists Make CRISPR Breakthrough to Speed-up Genomic Editing) and Science and Technology Research News (Scientists Tweak CRISPR Tool to Accelerate Genomic Editing) reported on how UCLA geneticists tweaked the powerful gene-editing tool, CRISPR, which enabled them to monitor the outcome of tens of thousands of gene edits in the time it currently takes to analyze a few. Senior study author Leonid Kruglyak, chair of human genetics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and first author Meru Sadhu, a postdoctoral researcher in human genetics, were quoted.

June 2016: We are pleased to announce that Dr. Leonid Kruglyak has been appointed Chair of the Department of Human Genetics, effective July 1, 2016. The news announcement can be read here.